Jaina Snaps
by Lord22
Summary: Theramore is destroyed. Everything Jaina Proudmoore has worked for has been for nothing. Rather than go back to the Alliance and become a brooding warmonger, Jaina decides on a more direct approach. She's going to kill everyone who wronged her. And everyone who didn't wrong her. And she's going to do it with a smile on her face.
1. Breaking Point

**Chapter One: Visit from a Former Friend**

Jaina Proudmoore had lost everything.

Why?

Why had it happened? She didn't understand.

She'd followed the Prophet's instructions like a good girl. She'd saved some people of Lordaeron. And now they were all dead. She had supported the truce with the Horde and been paid back with her own blood.

Now as she stood amidst the ruins of Theramore, alone, she did nothing.

She didn't cry. She'd done enough crying over Arthas. She didn't rage. That would only please Varian. She stood there, staring at her own reflection in a puddle.

Really, all this was Varian's fault. Garrosh was too stupid to be held responsible for his actions. Varian had been the one who provoked the Horde so Garrosh rose to power. Though Thrall also had a lot of blame as well. He could have stopped Garrosh at any time. Instead he made the idiot Warchief against her advice.

Was that herself she was looking at in the water?

'What do we do now?' asked herself.

'What are we supposed to do?" asked Jaina. 'We could become vengeful crusaders and lead the Alliance on the warpath.'

'Lead who?' asked her reflection.

Good point.

Jaina had always believed that one should learn from their mistakes. So what was her mistake? Trusting the Horde?

Hardly. She'd never been that dumb. The fact was that Theramore was much weaker than the Horde. Having good relations with the Horde was the logical choice. If Varian hadn't fucked everything up... If Thrall hadn't run off on his vision quest there wouldn't have been a problem.

'The Prophet told us to do this.' noted her reflection.

'Yes, because he wanted to save the people of Lordaeron. Lordaeron was doomed. If we'd followed Arthas to Northrend...'

'The colonies are still standing.' said her reflection.

That was right. The only surviving people left from Lordaeron were now focused entirely in Northrend. In the cities Arthas had founded. The cities the prophet didn't want founded. So was the prophet secretly evil?

Jaina had the feeling that she should be having some kind of emotional reaction to all this. Was she in shock? Was that why she was thinking about this?

'This isn't right.' said the reflection. 'The prophet said we would be saved. That this was our only chance of salvation. It hasn't even been ten years and we're all dead.'

So the prophet was a liar. Well she'd wasted half a decade.

What now?

Jaina smiled. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she'd been crying so long she was sick of it. Maybe because she'd really seen this coming. She'd known or should have known that the Horde would do this eventually.

And now she was going to go back to Stormwind and admit that Varian was right.

No.

No Jaina wasn't going to give him that victory. Why was she shaking? She could feel her breath coming out short. Why was she shaking?

Because it had all been for nothing. Everything she'd ever valued or struggled for had been for nothing. And now she was supposed to go and become a warmonger. No doubt so Varian Wrynn could act self-righteous and look restrained by comparison.

It was so...

So...

Hilarious.

As the rain began to pour on the ruins of Theramore, Jaina Proudmoore howled with laughter.

* * *

Thrall sensed something when he awoke that night. Rising to his feet he grasped his war hammer and made his way to the door. Something was approaching. It was familiar but warped somehow.

Opening the door, he wished he hadn't shed his armor.

The war had been getting worse lately. The last news he'd heard was that Theramore was about to be attacked. The conflict had escalated. He reminded himself that Garrosh was the only choice for Warchief. Thrall reminded himself what he had taught Garrosh.

And then he saw Jaina.

Her dress was ragged and torn. Her skin was bruised. Her staff was broken in her hand. And she was smiling widely. It disturbed him, but he lowered his hammer. "Jaina, what is... what is the meaning of this?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. With Theramore obliterated I find myself without much in the way of responsibility." said Jaina. "I thought I'd come to visit an old friend.

"May I come in?"

Theramore destroyed? Was she joking? He couldn't imagine her joking about something like this. But if it had happened, why was she smiling. "...Yes, yes you can."

He led her into the house, and Jaina sat down across from the table from him. Aggra roused and emerged warily. "Go'el, who is this human?"

"This is Jaina Proudmoore, of..." began Thrall, looking to her.

"Nowhere in particular." said Jaina, smile unfading. "I was never a resident of Lordaeron. Dalaran is destroyed. Kul'tiras wants nothing to do with me, and of course, well, we both know what happened to Theramore, don't we?

"Can I have some tea?"

"You may get it your-" began Aggra.

Thrall looked up warningly. "Aggra, play along, please. This is... a matter that is rather sensitive."

Was she serious? This wasn't like her at all.

Aggra caught the concern in his eyes. "...As you wish, Go'el."

Jaina looked at him flatly. Her smile disappeared as she raised an eyebrow. "Go'el?"

"It is my true name." said Thrall.

"Well I'm not using it." said Jaina. "It sounds silly. Thrall is the one who freed his people from bondage. Thrall helped drive back the Legion. Go'el is just a mewling infant who got picked up by a human lord.

"Trying to act as if you are that person is just an act of pointless sentimentality."

"It is my heritage." said Thrall, somewhat offended.

"Maybe." said Jaina, smile returning. "But if nothing else, I've learned you have to let go of the past."

"Jaina, what is this?" asked Thrall. "Why are you acting as though nothing has happened?"

"Well, having everything I ever cared about ripped from me has become so common." said Jaina. "I don't really mind it anymore. And I thought I'd share a little revelation that I had when I was looking at the burnt-out ashes of Theramore."

Thrall eyed her warily. "...What revelation?"

"Everything is completely futile." said Jaina. "This whole truce thing we were working toward, it was nothing more than a momentary pause. An excuse to give you the chance to regroup.

"There was always going to be a war of extermination between the races. The only question was when."

"That isn't true. We can-" began Thrall. Can do what? Stop the war? It was too late for her. War or no it meant nothing. "We could have prevented this."

Jaina laughed uproariously, a manic tinge to her tone. It was the most terrifying thing he'd ever heard, and he gripped his warhammer. "Oh, but we couldn't, thanks to you. After all, you handed the reigns over to Garrosh, didn't you? You could have given it to Cairne Bloodhoof, or Vol'jin, or even Sylvanas. But no one except an orc would do.

"An orc who questioned your every decision. An orc who you knew was a warmongering monster. An orc you could have stopped at any time.

"But you didn't.

"And Theramore paid the price."

So that was what this was about. "I had no choice!" said Thrall. "The spirits-"

"I don't care." said Jaina, voice light and without anger. "I've listened to you whine about your people and their quest for redemption for years. Now you are going to listen to me.

"This whole thing could have been avoided.

"But you didn't want to avoid it, did you, Thrall? No, because that would require you to admit that you were wrong. That your warrior culture needed to change for the world to move on."

Aggra returned, looking in a foul mood. "I have your tea."

She set it down. Jaina took the tea and sipped it. "Thank you very much." Then she looked back to Thrall. "You see, it dawned on me that in all our discussions, you never admitted that the orcs had done anything wrong. No, you were the heroes of your own story. You didn't slaughter innocent people, the demons made you do it. You didn't choose to slaughter the Draenai, that was Gul'dan and Ner'zhul.

"That's why you didn't care about what Garrosh was doing. You couldn't conceive that your people could be the villains."

"Jaina I..." Thrall couldn't deny the truth of what she said. What could he say? "I have made many mistakes. I never meant for this to happen. I thought... I thought the rest of the Horde would keep Garrosh in check. I wanted to put Cairne in charge but...

"The orcs wouldn't tolerate a non-orcish Warchief. Saurfang was too old, and he has no son I..."

Jaina shrugged. She really didn't care about his reasons or anything, did she? "You can justify it all you want, Thrall. But it doesn't matter in the slightest. At this point, I have nothing to go back to. Nothing at all.

"So I'm going to go forward.

"That's why I'm going to kill you."

Thrall raised his warhammer defensively. "Jaina-"

"But not today." said Jaina, sipping her tea again. "That would be too simple. First I'm going to kill your entire species. Every single orc, down to the last child. I can do it. If nothing else, I know the layout of your nation. I know orc culture. And I know Garrosh.

"I won't need an army.

"Once I've killed every single orc except you, I'm going to move on to the other Horde races. I'll destroy the Sunwell, again. Just to spite the blood elves. The others I might let live. I'm still mulling it over.

"I'll pay a visit to Varian sooner or later as well. And I'll take everything that is precious to him a second time. And you can sit on your little island and wait.

"And when I've run out of people to murder, I'll come back here, and I'll end your wife in front of you. I'll kill your children.

"You will lose everything that is precious to you.

"And only then, when your last, pitiful hope is extinguished, will I finally allow you to die."

Thrall stared in horror. Jaina's smile was still there. She looked happy. Aggra had an axe and came forward, only to have her legs sink into the ground.

"I wouldn't." said Jaina. "This is excellent tea, Aggra. I'd hate to kill you ahead of schedule. I'll make sure you die quickly when I return."

He had to stop this. She'd been bewitched. "Jaina, this is madness." said Thrall. "You cannot possibly defeat the entire world on your own. And what you are doing will only continue the cycle of hatred."

Jaina paused. Her smile faded, and she became thoughtful. Was he getting through? If he could just talk her down maybe-

"On the contrary, Thrall." said Jaina, tone dead. "People can't seek revenge when they are dead, Thrall." Then she was all smiles and teleported out the door. He looked to where she was waving cheerfully. "Anyway, I've got a killing spree to begin. Sorry to take up your time. I'm sure you have dirt farming to tend to here, so I won't keep you from it."

"Jaina, wait!" said Thrall as she walked away.

"What?" said Jaina, looking back.

If this went on, Thrall would have to stop her. He'd have to kill her. "...Jaina, please don't do this. I don't want to kill you."

She stretched. "I'm terribly sorry, Thrall. But the feeling is anything but mutual."

And she was gone in a flash.

* * *

Jaina teleported to her first destination. A reasonably large village that was built over the corpses of centaurs. As she appeared the orcish guards rushed forward and surrounded her. She curtsied sarcastically.

"Excuse me." she said. "I didn't mean to barge in."

"You, stay where you are human!" said the orc.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought I ought to introduce myself." said Jaina. "I'm Jaina Proudmoore, I've teleported into this village before.

"I noticed that Garrosh has poured most of his forces to the northern and eastern fronts. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to murder you all.

"I hate resorting to violence, but you asked for it."

Jaina melted his flesh off his bones. Then summoning water elementals she sicced them on the guards. She sent waves of ice falling down on other guards, then hurled fireballs into the buildings. Soon the village was burning. The screams of innocent people rose with the smoke of the burning.

Jaina laughed.

The last of the guards were wiped out. Before long the people were fleeing. But they couldn't get away.

She could teleport.

She played a game of cat and mouse with them for hours. She'd let them run away for a while, just enough for them to think they'd escaped. Then she teleported in front of them. Sometimes they tried to split up, but she would kill all the groups but one, then continue to track the last.

At last there was only a mother and her child.

* * *

"P...please..." begged the woman.

Jaina rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, I really should kill you. But I like the idea of Garrosh knowing what is happening. Run along, and tell Garrosh that Jaina Proudmoore sends her regards.

"Oh, will you kill yourself if I flay that child alive?"

The woman hesitated. "...Yes."

"Fair enough." said Jaina. "Go on ahead."

And she ran off.

Jaina gazed upon the destruction she had wrought and the broken bodies of her enemies. And she felt good. She hadn't brought back any of the people she loved, but she had killed a bunch of people. And while she was hurting them it distracted her from her soul-crushing loneliness.

This would definitely make for a fun hobby.

She threw aside her broken staff and greeted a new morning happily. "Well, that takes care of one village. Now for the next one."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So one of the reasons I dropped Warcraft as a series was because I hated the treatment of Jaina as a character. She was completely derailed solely so that Varian Wrynn could be the hero. I wonder if Metzen realizes how destructive blowing up Theramore was to the plot of Warcraft.

Anyway, Jaina basically gets turned into a serious warmonger and then is never allowed any kind of meaningful vengeance.

This fic is meant to address both those problems with the story.


	2. Closed Doors

**Chapter Two: Closed Doors**

The celebrations of the destruction of Theramore were still ongoing. Then Garrosh received the news in his throne room. Saurfang looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Warchief, there have been a series of massacres. They all happened last night. Five entire villages were depopulated in this region."

"The centaurs?" guessed Garrosh.

"No. It was a mage." said Saurfang. "One mage."

"The warriors of the Horde are not that weak." scoffed Garrosh.

Saurfang looked up in fury. "There were hardly any warriors to begin with. You drew them away to attack Theramore. Whoever did this, teleported into a region and killed every man, women and child. All save one..." He paused. "We found a survivor, half-starved from the journey."

Garrosh eyed him. "Well?"

"She said she was given a message." said Saurfang. "'Jaina Proudmoore sends her regards.'"

Garrosh laughed. "Perhaps the sorceress is not as weak as I thought."

"She is slaughtering peons by the hundreds!" said Saurfang. "This is not a game!"

"They are peons." scoffed Garrosh. "The weakest and least worthy of the Horde. They are of no great loss. Fit only to serve.

"Still, it would not do to let the sorceress act as she pleased. Send out our warriors. Track her down and bring her to me alive."

* * *

Jaina Proudmoore was making no attempt to hide. Far from it, she was busy burning grain stores and fields. She'd managed to destroy half a dozen of them in the last hour. Thrall really hadn't laid out his defenses very well. Orcs thought about war in terms of warrior against warrior.

But if Jaina burned all the crops and grain stores, those warriors would starve to death.

Still, it was rather boring. So when she noticed the orcs riding out in great numbers she decided to have some fun. She played hit and run, leading them on little by little. When they slowed, she attacked them with fire. Hails of ice and snow tore through their flesh. Water elementals harassed their lines.

She'd killed hundreds before the day is out.

Finally, she found that their encompassing net was getting tighter around her. With a sigh, she realized that she ought to move operations. It wasn't as if she couldn't have just as much fun killing some of the other races.

So she teleported away. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of a confrontation.

She appeared in Lordaeron and sighed. "Well, it looks like Garrosh is starting to take me seriously. So I'll start work on the forsaken instead." Noticing a forsaken base, she stretched. "That looks like an excellent place to start.

"Sylvanas is still engaged in Gilneas. So I can attack behind her lines."

Then she walked toward the Forsaken village with a spring in her step. The guards drew their weapons as she waved to them. "Excuse me! Good day to you, my fine sir!"

"Alliance, stay where you are!" they shouted as they drew bows.

"Oh I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude. I'm here to help you." said Jaina.

They stopped. "Help us?"

"Yes." said Jaina. "You forsaken are always whining about the curse that is your existence. And I've decided that-" An arrow bounced off her shield. "-you could let me finish talking?"

"Would it help?" asked the forsaken.

"Probably not." admitted Jaina.

And then began the massacre.

The massacre continued over the course of several days. Dozens of forsaken outposts were destroyed, their inhabitants burned alive. It wasn't as fun as the first time, more of a hobby than anything else.

Still, it wasn't as if Jaina Proudmoore had anything better to do.

* * *

As the assault on Gilneas continued, Sylvanas received tidings from a subordinate. She looked up, unbending her bow as the battle raged.

"Lady Sylvanas, we have a problem." said the man.

"What is it?" asked Sylvanas.

"Dozens of our villages have been completely obliterated." said the forsaken. "They are all in the heartlands of Lordaeron."

"What?" said Sylvanas. "How could the Alliance get that far?"

"I..." the man shifted. "It's Jaina Proudmoore. She just teleported into the locations where we were weakest. Then she started killing people."

Sylvanas mused. "I thought she was dead. No matter."

"What do we do?" asked the forsaken.

Sylvanas quickly ran through things in her head. What did she know of Jaina and her abilities? "Let me think.

"Pursuing her is pointless. She can teleport away if she ever gets cornered. And she knows Lordaeron and Durotar well. Which means she can go virtually anywhere in those two lands and attack wherever we are weakest.

"And she'll always be able to know where we are weakest because of scrying."

"Then how do we stop her?" asked the forsaken.

"Get my mages immediately." said Sylvanas. "I want them to set up a magical warning system that can tell us instantly when a given area comes under attack. I also want teleport ready mages standing by to transport me and my honor guard to a given location." She paused. "And pull back our main forces."

"Isn't this an overreaction?" asked an officer.

"Of course not." said Sylvanas. "Jaina Proudmoore has absolutely nothing to lose. And there is now nothing she is not willing to do.

"We have to remove her quickly."

* * *

Killing people had officially become a chore.

As Jaina sat in front of a blazing inferno that had once been a village, she found herself bored. She'd tried boiling people alive in their own blood. She'd drained all the water out of them. Flayed them alive. Cooked them alive. And just plain old stabbed them to death.

It was all starting to blur together. "Humph. It's odd, really. I never thought that brutally slaughtering innocent villagers could get boring. Then again I never really tried it until now."

She teleported to her next site and noticed something at once. "So, looks like Sylvanas has set up an early warning system. Unlike Garrosh, she's actually smart. She'll probably have mages standing by to teleport in.

"So, what to do?

"Well, I can't really afford to have a direct fight. I could go back and keep attacking Garrosh, but he'll probably wise up. Or rather, Sylvanas will take over things. Then everyone will be ready to hunt me around the clock.

"Well, it isn't as though I'm in any kind of hurry.

"I can wait.

"Maybe I should pay Varian a visit? Yes, that sounds good. They're probably assuming that I'm going just after the Horde. And I've been indirectly helping him so far, so I really should do something to make him suffer.

"Yeah, I'll do that." Then she paused. "Then again. Maybe I should take a break and go get a drink or something. I'll make sure to murder everyone at the bar while I'm there, of course. That way I'll mix business with pleasure.

"Or something."

And she teleported away.

This whole 'murder everyone she didn't like' thing was working out really well. So many problems were solved by a slow and painful death for the person responsible. She couldn't believe she hadn't tried this before.

* * *

She found a nice bar, owned by orcs and quickly set about paying her tab.

As she drank, a door opened. Glancing back, she saw a wizard, dressed in the robes of the Kirin Tor. He was shaking and looked horrified. "Lady Jaina Proudmoore?"

"Speaking." said Jaina, taking another sip.

"...We've been looking all over for you for the past few days." said the Wizard.

"Were you?" asked Jaina. "How did you finally manage to track me down?"

"We... er... followed the trail of corpses." said the wizard. "Why are you drinking here?"

"Well, I felt like I wanted a drink. But I didn't have any money on me. So instead I found an orcish bar and murdered everybody inside. But I accidentally set fire to the alcohol, so I had to find another one.

"I got into a scuffle with a patrol, and then I found this place. This time I killed everybody inside with ice.

"How can I help the Kirin Tor?"

The man shifted. "...Lady Jaina, after the events of Theramore, Rhonin named you his successor."

Oh had he? How sweet. "Well, that was nice of him."

The man paused. "We were going to tell you after the survivors from Theramore entered but... you left before we could tell you."

"Hmm, sorry I led you on such a chase." said Jaina.

Then she pretended to take no more notice. There was silence.

"Are you going to-" began the man.

"No." said Jaina.

He paused. "No? What do you mean, no-"

"The last time I poured years of my life into running a city it got burned down. and for what? So Varian and Garrosh could sustain their homoerotic grudge against each other." said Jaina. "I'm not going back to Dalaran."

He looked around. "Then... then what are you going to do?"

"Live for the moment. Murder orcish men, women and children without or restraint." said Jaina. "Kill people I have a grudge against. I've had some really great ideas already.

"I practiced on these.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

He looked at a child who had been flayed alive. "...I'm not sure I'm disappointed. I've seen things today... how can you live with yourself?"

"Well I lived with you people for a long time." said Jaina. "So my tolerance for the unforgivable is quite high. Be sure not to trip on the corpses on your way out."

The man wandered out.

Jaina kept on drinking. Then she sensed something coming. A commanding presence that spoke of disappointment and unconditional love. Jaina looked in the reflection on her mug and saw her.

She was in the form of a horned elven woman with long red hair. Well, she was late. As usual. "...Leave, before I kill you." said Jaina.

"I'm here to talk, Lady Proudmoore." said Alexstrasza the Lifebinder.

"I don't want to talk anymore." said Jaina, feeling a bit morose despite herself. "I want to skin orcish babies and make everyone suffer as much as I have suffered."

"No, you don't." said Alexstrasza. "You've been hurt by the world. Everything that was precious to you has been ripped to shreds. You're angry and grief-stricken, and you are using atrocity as an outlet."

Jaina laughed. "No, really? Brilliant deduction there, Lifebinder. How'd you figure that one out?"

"Because it happened to me." said Alexstrasza. "I don't know if you've realized this, Proudmoore, but I have lost a great many people close to me as well. Neltharion, Malygos, most of my consorts. I was forced into slavery, forced to use my children-"

Jaina splashed beer all over her and throw the mug as she stood. Alexstrasza took a step back as she approached. **"I DON'T CARE!**

"I don't give a fuck about your problems, anymore than I give a fuck about Varian's daddy issues! I'm done being a shoulder for people to cry on, and then abuse as soon as I get in the way of their bloodlust! Not anymore!

"I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!

"But not before I make them beg for death."

"What you are doing will not bring you peace." said Alexstrasza.

"Neither did trying to make everyone treat each other with dignity, though? Neither did doing the right thing. No matter what I do, my life just gets worse and worse. Now I've got nothing. Nothing left." said Jaina. "I could try to build something else, but it would just get torn down. I could lead the Alliance in a crusade against the orcs, but Varian would just do a 180 on his opinion on orcs. Then everyone would call me the warmonger.

"Not this time. I will make them plead for the days when I was a MEWLING PACIFIST!"

Alexstrasza looked down as silence overtook them. "...I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" scoffed Jaina.

"If I had acted differently, if I had done things in a different way, much evil could have been averted. But I didn't. I am... imperfect as a guardian." said Alexstrasza. "But what you are doing right now will do more than simply hurt the Horde. It... it could destroy everything. The path you are taking is leading to a future far worse than any-"

"What part of I don't care, do you not understand?" asked Jaina.

Alexstrasza shifted. "The leaders of the Alliance and Horde deserve to suffer for what they have done, Jaina. But their people don't. None of these orcs you killed had any say in the attack on Theramore. You... you can still help some of them, Jaina.

"You can help to right some of the wrongs of this world.

"Just... please... don't throw all of this away for revenge."

"There is nothing left to throw away." said Jaina. "I spent my entire life doing the right thing, and I was paid back in the blood of everything I cared about. Even if I could help some of these... peons, or innocents or whatever you call them, it wouldn't bring me any satisfaction.

"No one would thank me.

"And I wouldn't feel any happier.

"It's not about good or evil. From now on, I live for myself. And no one else.

"Goodbye."

Then she teleported away.

And found herself in Stratholme. The broken ruins were still stalked by undead. The stench of corpses had never been washed away. She paused. "What is this..."

And then she saw him. A Lich, floating before her. "Kel'thuzad." Old hatred welled in her, and she summoned her power.

"Peace, Lady Proudmoore." said Kel'thuzad. "I'm not here as your enemy. I've come to offer you a place of great power."

Jaina took a wild guess. "You want me to join the scourge?"

"Actually," said Kel'thuzad, "we were hoping you would be our leader."

Jaina smiled. "Sure. Why not."


End file.
